Black History Month: Honoring Bishop Daniel A. Payne
Today we want to honor Bishop Daniel A. Payne. Bishop Payne was born February 24, 1811 to London and Martha Payne, free blacks in Charleston, South Carolina during the height of slavery. Sadly Bishop Payne was too familiar with the loss of loved ones: his father died when he was four years old and his mother died when he was nine. In 1847 Daniel Payne wed Julia A. Farris, a widow from Washington, D.C. and a year later his wife died giving birth to their daughter who died nine months later.
Bishop Payne gave his life to educating himself broadly from learning reading and writing to Latin, Greek and Hebrew. At the age of fifteen he turned his interest to spiritual matter and eventually surrendered his life to Jesus at the age of eighteen. Daniel Alexander Payne's lifelong mission to improve the educational condition of his people came after a prayer when he heard a voice say, "I have set thee apart to educate thyself in order that thou mayest be an educator of thy people."
Bishop Payne did not take the pastorate lightly and understood how serious the responsibility and call of the minister was: "...the work of the gospel minister stops not here: a flock of rich souls is committed to his care, and it now becomes his duty to train them for usefulness and for heaven."
Excerpts from "The Faithful Preacher" by Thabiti Anyabwile
Books
Bridging The Diversity Gap by Alvin Sanders
The Gospel For Life: The Gospel & Racial Reconciliation by Russell Moore
Black History Month: Honoring Phillis Wheatley
Today we want to honor Phillis Wheatley.
Phillis Wheatley was born around 1753 in Gambia, Africa. She was captured by slave traders, brought to America, and sold to the Wheatley family in Boston, Massachusetts. She was given the name Phillis after the name of the slave ship that she endured to America.
After sixteen months with the Wheatley family, Wheatley was able “to read the Bible, Greek and Latin classics, and British literature” (National Women’s History Museum, 2015). At the age of fourteen, Wheatley began to write poetry. Her first poem was published in 1767. In 1773, Wheatley published her work – the first book written by a black woman in America – Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral. Her poetry was greatly influenced by her faith and her African heritage.
In 1778, she married freed man John Peters from Boston, MA. They had three children, though none survived. Wheatley died from complications of childbirth in 1784. Her work was widely read and cherished.
On Being Brought from Africa to America
'Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land,
Taught my benighted soul to understand
That there's a God, that there's a Saviour too:
Once I redemption neither sought nor knew.
Some view our sable race with scornful eye,
"Their colour is a diabolic die."
Remember, Christians, Negros, black as Cain,
May be refin'd, and join th' angelic train.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/phillis-wheatley
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45465/on-being-brought-from-africa-to-america
Books
Letters To A Birmingham Jail by Bryan Loritts
Right Color, Wrong Culture by Bryan Loritts
Articles
The Bible and Race
Sermons/Talks
A Time To Speak (Memphis, Tn)
Black History Month: Honoring Dr. Francis James Grimke
Today we want to honor Dr. Francis James Grimke. Dr. Grimke was born on October 10, 1850 to a slave mother, Nancy Weston, and her owner, Henry Grimke in Charleston, SC. On December 19, 1878 Francis married Charlotte Forten. The couple had one daughter in June 1880, Theodora Cornelia, but died in infancy.
Francis joined the Confederate Army to avoid being re-enslaved; he served as an officer's valet for two years. Dr. Grimke pursued education after the Emancipation: he was the valedictorian in the class of 1870 at Lincoln University, in 1872 moved to Washington, DC to study Law at Howard University, and left Howard in 1874 to pursue a theological education at Princeton Theological Seminary.
Dr. Grimke served as pastor of 15th Street Presbyterian Church for his entire six decades of Christian ministry; declining offers to teach at Biddle University and the presidency of Howard University, choosing instead a life of shepherding God's people.
A journal entry from Dr. Grimke in 1936: Without the Holy Scriptures and what they reveal, there is no hope for humanity. To build on anything else is to build on the sand.
Excerpts from "The Faithful Preacher" by Thabiti Anyabwile
Resources for you to take the next step
Books
Right Color, Wrong Culture by Bryan Loritts
The Elusive Dream by Korie Edwards
Sermons/Talks
I Can’t Breathe by Charlie Dates
Podcasts
How Racial Trauma Works
Black History Month: Honoring Lemuel Haynes
As a church we desire to honor all peoples, all cultures, all ethnicities, and all history: with February being Black History Month (an entire month to celebrate the richness of Black History and Culture). Every Wednesday we will honor a person and/or family from the African American community. We will also provide a few resources for you to learn from, and to help you engage in Black History Month on your own.
Today we want to honor Lemuel Haynes. Mr. Haynes was born on July 18, 1753 in West Hartford, Connecticut. In 1783, Haynes met and married Elizebath Babbit, a white school teacher and the couple bore ten children.
At the age of 21, Mr. Haynes volunteered as a Minuteman and two years later joined the Continental Army, thus becoming part of the American Revolution. In 1784, Mr. Lemuel Haynes became the first African-American ordained by any religious body in America. It was said that "Haynes was a determined, self-taught student who poured over the Scriptures until he could repeat from memory most of text dealing with the doctrines of grace."
Lemuel Haynes pastoral career spanned forty years. Despite "his evident prowess as a preacher," he was never offered the pastorate of the church in Torrington, Connecticut due to racial prejudice and resentment among some churches in the area. In 1788, Mr. Haynes was called to pastor an all-white congregation in Rutland, Vermont -- where he pastored faithful for thirty years.
Reference
"The Faithful Preacher" by Thabiti Anyabwile
Resources for you to take the next step
Book
Divided By Faith by Michel Emerson and Christian Smith
Articles
9 Things You Should Know About Black History Month
Sermons/Talks
MLK50 TGC Conference (Charlie Dates, Jackie Hill Perry, Eric Mason, Matt Chandler, Mika Edmondson)
Podcasts